Swamp Thing #29 – Review

By: Charles Soule (story), Jesus Saiz (art), Matthew Wilson (colors)

The Story: Alec loses his mind, then loses his body.

The Review: Much as I’ve enjoyed Soule’s work on his ever-increasing swathe of titles—five others,* at the last count—I’d argue Swamp Thing enjoys the peak of his imaginative abilities.  While every Soule title is essentially well-crafted and generally contain good ideas, or at least a good premise, you have to notice that Swamp Thing delivers a brand new concept nearly every month.  This issue fleshes out a whopping three.

Technically, the Sureen were introduced last month, but we only get a real sense of who they are and what they do here.  Basically, they’re a cult of assistants to the Green’s avatar, devoted to a somewhat creepy level.  The big difference between them and Waylon Smithers is instead of love, they desire in return the “Spring Sacrament,” sort of a Green-high for humans, in which they hallucinate themselves sprouting tree limbs from their arms. (“Quelle decadence,” Capucine remarks at their sprawled forms.)